Sunday, February 15, 2009

A Walk Down Memory Lane

Last week I got a call from an old co-worker. Throughout High School/College, I worked at Friendly's Ice Cream. I developed some wonderful friendships (even my first love) at this time. They were a great bunch of people, crazy and fun. We had a great time working (imagine that) and we often went out afterwards. There were parties, softball games and picnics. As is always the case though, people eventually fell in love, got married, had children and we all lost touch. Well, my old co-worker has organized a "reunion". 25-30 years after scooping thousands of Jim Dandy's, about 35-40 people will be getting together in 2 weeks. They even started a web page and it has been surreal to see some of the pictures posted, old menus and other paraphenalia (sp?) from "the good old days". In anticipation of this upcoming reunion, I started looking through MY old pictures. I spent 2 hours in the attic yesterday afternoon and only touched on a portion of my past. I found great pictures of my Friendly's days along with pictures from my Channel Home Center days. This was where I met Mike and fell in love. Ironically, the two stores were right next to each other, in the same strip mall, and my Friendly family soon became entwined with my Channel family. There was even a period of time when I worked in both places at the same time.

Looking through all those old pictures really brought me back. I realize that Courtney and Brandon will soon be the age I was then. I hope that they each have as much fun as I did and pray that they are more "restrained" than I was. Yes, I admit that I was a little wild, but all my friends were also very respectful and kind. I can only hope that Courtney and Brandon be-friend the same type of people.

About Me

My husband Mike was diagnosed at the age of 36 with Young Onset Alzheimer's Disease. For almost 11 years, my children & I took care of Mike at home - until he passed away on February 28, 2012 at the age of 47. When Mike was first diagnosed, he gave me "permission" to place him in a nursing home, but I chose not to do that. With the help of my children, family &aides, I kept the promise to myself that I would keep him home until the "end". I began this blog about 5 years ago to keep family and friends updated on Mike's condition as he weathered some difficult health issues and hospitalizations. During the process, it became a method for me to vent about issues that directly effected us as a family caring for someone with AD. Nothing along this journey has been easy & I will continue to advocate & be the voice for all those patients who have been silenced by Alzheimer's Disease. NO ONE SURVIVES ALZHEIMER'S, the disease does not discriminate and I will do all I can to make a difference. My faith has been my strength and we have been blessed with MANY angels along the way.
Mike will always be my hero!